Jane Austen, Spinster
We received a link to an essay about Jane Austen on the “Sexual Fables” Web site from the author, Martin Blythe. Well, it’s not really an essay, more of a hybrid essay/speculative semi-fiction type of thing. We could spork-fisk it, but it would be like shooting fish in a barrel, frankly. There’s just no sport in it. We thought we would open the floor for our readers to take a turn; or even praise it if you are so inclined. We are feeling magnanimous tonight. Also we think it’s actually kind of a neat idea, just a bit lacking in execution.
September 29th, 2006 at 11:23 am
Actually, I thought it was rather interesting. I don’t know if I agreed with everything he said, but much of what he said made sense. (At least he dismissed that stupid Jane-Cassandra lesbian thing.)
I personally think her acceptance at first was pragmatic, for the sake of herself and family, the classic situation she often wrote about. Then she thought about it overnight, and the longterm consequences of marrying the guy became evident. On reading “Jane Austen- Her Life”, by Park Honan, I get the distinct impression that Bigg-Wither was, while educated, not the brightest bulb in the pack - much closer to Collins than to Darcy. And that may be the clue to understanding what she did.
She may already have written some appropriate words (in First Inpressions) that we later hear coming from the mouth of the negligent but loving Mr. Bennet (and Jane Austen’s temperament was in many ways similar to Elizabeth’s): “I know your disposition, Lizzy. I know that you could be neither happy nor respectable, unless you truly esteemed your husband; unless you looked up to him as a superior. Your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage. You could scarcely escape discredit and misery. My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life.”
She may have seen the possibility that she would end up “neither happy nor respectable”, unable to respect her partner in life, and “could scarcely escape discredit and misery”. And she didn’t want that. She obviously didn’t love him; but she probably could have tolerated a rather loveless marriage for her family’s sake if she respected him. But she didn’t.
September 30th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
An interesting read. I like the fictionalized viewpoints. Though the way it is written does make it seem like fact, where I think (or at least hope) the author’s intention was to illustrate what various persons, or characters, in Jane’s life might have thought.